GUYOIL – Why people not charged?

Oct 08, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Given what has occurred at GUYOIL, why are some people still walking around free? We want to know why the now terminated employees of GUYOIL have not been charged, and have not either been placed before the court, or are in jail? It boggles the mind that after the slew of findings and many exposures of all that took place at GUYOIL that people are still floating around, and little has been done. Who is protecting whom, and why is this even necessary, since so much corruption was unearthed at the State entity? (“AG report flags lack of contract and quotation in botched deal…Director’s friend had recommended unlicensed fuel company” -KN October 7).

It is more alleged corruptions than one can imagine occurring under one roof and involving a small set of GUYOIL employees, and entangling also, if this could be believed, a director of the company. Directors are selected to oversee clean operations and clean business, not be a part of corruption schemes, as alleged. According to the Auditor General’s report, the perpetrators fingered so far appeared to have thought of everything, covered all the bases. But like all situations involving corruption and breaches of trust occurring since time immemorial, there are always those stray strands that come back to haunt in the fingers that they point, and to whose doors they lead. Procurement protocols ignored and violated, self-serving, made-up procedures followed, friends of friends, a company not authorized to engage in certain types of fuel business, no price quotation and no contract, among other damning exposures, thanks to the work of the Audit Office.

The May 28, 2021 AG report identified three GUYOIL employees and one Director. They are not ordinary workers, but very senior ones who, along with the Director, all have a duty to conduct themselves in a prudent and aboveboard manner. As can be gathered from the AG’s report, none of the four did so, as the ‘officials acted inappropriately and not in the best interests of the company.’ Further the AG’s report has recommended that the men be separated from the company, and one did actually jump the gun and resigned (or was allowed to resign). President Ali intervened and ordered that the Director and one employee be removed. Leaving aside the issue of the President moving into the space of the Board of Directors, there are still concerns as to why the matter has stopped there for all three employees and the Director.

This is because the AG’s report also recommended that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) be consulted, and that charges be laid against the alleged wrongdoers, as supporting circumstances necessitated. The problem is that to this day, almost a year and a half later, no one of the persons named in the AG’s report has been charged by the GPF. Why is this so? Clearly, as could be gathered from the AG’s multiple findings, all interrelated and all tracking back to the four officers of GUYOIL, there were some serious and costly activities. Not through incompetence or ignorance, as we remind citizens, but with what were undoubtedly a long string of corrupt practices that reflected much cunning thought employed, much crooked energies expended, and much cash in the mix.

GUYOIL’s cash is the cash of Guyanese taxpayers. Therefore, a full and proper accounting is due, which means accountability on the part of those whose names have been called. The Audit Office has done its part, and very well, we may add, for which a word of thanks is offered. The issue at hand today, and for the months since the AG’s report, is where is the police? And what is the outcome of its investigations, if any, in this oil affair? The fact that named GUYOIL officials have been terminated, and one resigned, is not good enough because it doesn’t go far enough. This cannot be like one of those private road accident settlements. Corruption was at work, and those responsible must be gone after and given due process. There is no friendship or loyalty here, only that the wheels of justice turn in complete circles and end at the proper places, inclusive of restitution and jail for the guilty.

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GUYOIL – Why people not charged?

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